Daily Telegraph in sting by man posing as a government minister

Three Daily Telegraph reporters who thought they were talking to a government minister were the victims of an elaborate sting the paper has admitted.

'We believed the man we were talking to was Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, but it turned out it was this other Vince Cable, who is just a nutty Liberal Democrat politician,' the paper's political correspondent Jim Green said.

'He seemed wrapped up in himself and a bit of a loner. When he boasted he had the power to take on Rupert Murdoch and even bring down the government, we were impressed. When we discovered he was just an egotistical fantasist, we realized we'd been well and truly conned.'

'I feel quite angry about it,' Mr Green said. 'What is really scary about this guy is that he really does believe he's still a member of a government.'

Are you telling us that the Business Secretary has been transformed into a non-person, in the Orwellian sense. If so, the margin for majority is even slimmer, and there is no mandate for slash & burn and radically reactionary amputations.